Antonio Mignucci, VT, BS, MA, PhD

Antonio A. Mignucci-Giannoni is a biological oceanographer and veterinary technician specializing in the biology, management and conservation of marine mammals and sea turtles. He is the founder of the international non-profit conservation organization Red Caribeña de Varamientos (Caribbean Stranding Network) dedicated to the care, treatment, and rehabilitation of injured or stranded marine mammals, sea turtle and sea birds. As a scientist, Mignucci is an expert in endangered tropical marine mammals and a specialist in the West Indian manatee, and since 2009, the director of the Puerto Rico Manatee Conservation Center in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. He is currently a full-time professor of marine sciences at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico and an adjunct professor at Ross University’s School of Veterinary Medicine.

EDUCATION

Veterinary Technician, Penn Foster College (AS VT)

Zoology, Colorado State University (BS)

Marine Affairs, The University of Rhode Island (MA)

Biological Oceanography, University of Puerto Rico (PhD)

Post-doctoral fellow, Sirenia Project, USGS Florida Caribbean Science Center

ACHIEVEMENTS

Member—Editorial Board, Caribbean Naturalist

Research Associate—Fundación Omacha, Bogotá, Colombia

Citizen of the Year Award—Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Environmental Quality Award—US Environmental Protection Agency, New York

Member—Sirenian Specialist Group, Species Survival Commission, IUCN—The World Conservation Union, Gland, Switzerland

RESEARCH

On-going research projects:

Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Hunter M. 2019-present. New estimates of the effective population size of Antillean manatees in Puerto Rico. Inter American University of Puerto Rico, USGS Sirenia Project, US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Caballero-Gaitán SJ, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Caicedo D, Vives M, Carazzone C. 2018-present. Conservación del manatí antillano (Trichechus manatus) en Colombia y el Caribe: uso de nuevas tecnologías como apoyo efectivo en procesos de recuperación de poblaciones de especies amenazadas. Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Fundación Omacha.

Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Caballero-Gaitán S. 2018-present. Phylogeography of brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) in the Wider Caribbean. Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Universidad de los Andes (Colombia).

Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Rivera-Pérez C, Cabrias-Contreras LJ, Caballero-Gaitán S. 2017-present. Phylogeography and health parameters of three species of stingrays in the Wider Caribbean. Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Universidad de los Andes (Colombia).

Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Caballero-Gaitán S, Sánchez-Okrucky R. 2017-present. Comprehensive study of the population genetic and relatedness of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) under human care to better the reproductive management of the menagerie. Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), Dolphin Discovery.

Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Jiménez-Marrero NM, Zegarra JP. 2011-present. Puerto Rico manatee health assessment and telemetry project. Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Mignucci-Giannoni AA. 2010-present. Community outreach and education as a tool for the conservation of the Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) in Puerto Rico. Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Red Caribeña de Varamientos.

Caicedo-Herrera D, Mignucci-Giannoni AA. 2008-present. Rescue, rehabilitation, release and radiotelemetry of long-term semi-captive and wild West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus) in Colombia. Fundación Omacha, Inter American University of Puerto Rico.

Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Rivera-Pérez CI, Cabrias-Contreras LJ. 1989-present. Health, pathology, parasitology, biomedical studies, rescue and rehabilitation of aquatic mammals and sea turtles in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico’s Legislature, Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, Georgia Aquarium, Ross University’s School of Veterinary Medicine, USGS Sirenia Project, US Fish and Wildlife Service.

PUBLICATION HIGHLIGHTS

Mignucci has published extensively authoring 5 books, 80 peer-reviewed publications, 44 popular publications, and over 100 conference presentations. 

Cabrias-Contreras LJ, Sánchez-Okrucky R, de la Rosa F, Rivera-Guzmán AL, Mignucci-Giannoni AA. 2020. Urinalysis parameters of the Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus) in the Caribbean. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Caicedo-Herrera D, Mona-Sanabria Y, Gómez-Camelo IV, Rosso-Lodoño MC, Mignucci-Giannoni AA. Opportunistic fish consumption by Antillean manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus) in Colombia. Caribbean Naturalist 74:1-9.

Chen I, Nishida S, Chou L, Isobe T, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Hoelzel AR. (2020). Population genetic diversity and historic dynamics of Fraser’s dolphins. Marine Ecology Progress Series.

Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Cintrón-Nieves D, Franqui-Rivera G, Espinoza R, Orcera-Iglesias JM, Rivera-Ilarraza PJ, Rivera-Pérez CI, Rodríguez-Ferrer G. 2020. First confirmed record of the Longfin Mako shark (Isurus paucus) for Puerto Rico. Caribbean Naturalist 71:1-9.

Rivera-Pérez CI, Caballero S, Caicedo-Herrera D, de La Rosa F, de Wit M, Rivera-Marchand B, Shobhini-Ponnampalam L, Mignucci-Giannoni AA. (submitted 2019). Molecular identification of trematode parasites of West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus), and their role as bio-indicators of their distribution and diet. PLOSOne.

Salazar-Casals A, Arriba-García A, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, O’connor J, Rubio-García A. 2020. Hematology and serum biochemistry of harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) pups after rehabilitation in the Netherlands. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 50(4):1021-1025.

Collazo JA, Krachey M, Pollock KH, Pérez-Aguiló FJ, Zegarra JP, Mignucci-Giannoni AA. 2019. Population estimates of Antillean manatee in Puerto Rico: An analytical framework for aerial surveys using multi-pass removal sampling. Journal of Mammalogy 100:1340-1349.

Colón-Llavina MM, Mattiucci S, Nascetti G, Harvey JT, Williams Jr. EH, Mignucci-Giannoni AA. 2019. Some metazoan parasites from marine mammals stranded in California. Pacific Science 73(4):1-13.

Jiménez-Zucchet N, Alejandro-Zayas T, Alvarado C, Arreola-Illescas MR, Benítez-Araiza L, Bustamante L, Cruz-Martínes D, Falcón-Robles N, Garduño-González L, López-Romahn MC, Martínez-Taylor AM, Mingramm-Murillo A, Ortiz C, Rivera-Guzmán AL, Sabater-Durán R, Sánchez-Jiménez A, Sánchez-Okrucky R, Staggs L, Torres-Salcedo R, Vences-Fernández M, Rivera-Marchand B, Mignucci-Giannoni AA. 2019. Baseline urinalysis values in common bottlenose dolphins under human care in the Caribbean. Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigations 31(3):426-433.

Van Cise AM, Baird RW, Baker CS, Cerchio S, Claridge D, Fielding R, Marrero J, Martien KK, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Oleson EM, Oremus M, Poole M, Rosel PE, Taylor BL, Morin PA. 2019. Oceanographic barriers, divergence, and admixture: Phylogeography and taxonomy of two putative subspecies of short-finned pilot whale. Molecular Ecology 28(11):2886-2902.

Wyrosdick H, Chapman A, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Rivera-Pérez CI, Bonde RK. 2018. Internal parasites of the two subspecies of the West Indian manatee Trichechus manatus. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 130:145-152.

Zahin M, Dean WL, Ghim S, Joh J, Gray RD, Gray RD, Khanal S, Bossart GD, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Rouchka EC, Jenson AB, Trent JO, Chaires JB, Chariker JH. 2018. Identification of G-quadruplexes forming sequences in three manatee papillomaviruses. PLoS One 13(4):e0195625.

González-Delgadillo AM, Quintero-Gil JA, Lara-Rodríguez GA, Rosso-Lodoño MC, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Trujillo F, Duque L, Becerra C, Ortiz-Gómez EP, Caicedo-Herrera D. 2017. Guía para la atención de varamientos de mamíferos acuáticos en Colombia. Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible, Asocars & Fundación Omacha, 35 pp.

Wyrosdick HM, Gerhold R, Su C, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Bonde RK, Chapman A, Rivera-Pérez CI, Martínez J, Miller DL. 2017. Investigating seagrass in Toxoplasma gondii transmission in Florida (Trichechus manatus latirostris) and Antillean (T. m. manatus) manatees. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 127: 65-69.

Ghim S, Joh J, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Rivera-Guzmán AL, Falcón-Matos L, Alsina-Guerrero MM, Rodríguez-Villanueva M, Jenson AB, Bossart GD. 2014. Genital papillomatosis associated with two novel mucosotropic papillomaviruses from a Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris). Aquatic Mammals 40(2):195-200.

Adimey N, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Auil NE, da Silva VMF, de Carvalho Alvite CM, Morales Vela B, Pinto de Lima R, Rosas FCW. 2012. Manatees rescue, rehabilitation and release efforts as a tool for species conservation. In Hines E, Reynolds J, Aragones L, Mignucci Giannoni AA, Marmontel M (eds) Sirenian Conservation: Issues and strategies in developing countries. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, pp. 204-217.

Bonde RK, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Bossart GD. 2012. Sirenian pathology and mortality assessment. In Hines E, Reynolds J, Aragones L, Mignucci Giannoni AA, Marmontel M (eds) Sirenian Conservation: Issues and strategies in developing countries. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, pp. 148-156.

Bossart GD, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Rivera-Guzmán AL, Jiménez-Marrero NM, Camus AC, Bonde RK, Dubey JP, Reif JS. 2012. Disseminated toxoplasmosis in Antillean manatees Trichchus manatus manatus from Puerto Rico. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 101:139-144.

Colón-Llavina MM, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Mattiucci S, Paoletti M, Nascetti G, Williams Jr. EH. 2009. Additional records of metazoan parasites from Caribbean marine mammals, including genetically identified anisakid nematodes. Parasitology Research 105(5):1239-1252.

Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Rosario-Delestre RJ, Alsina-Guerrero MM, Falcón-Matos L, Guzmán-Ramírez L, Williams Jr. EH, Bossart GD, Reidenberg J. 2009. Asphyxiation in a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) from Puerto Rico due to choking on a black margate (Anisotremus surinamensis). Aquatic Mammals 35(1):48-54.

INTERESTS

Teaching interests include marine biology, oceanography, aquatic animal health, marine mammalogy, and marine affairs. Research interests include life history, ecology and zoogeography of Caribbean and South American aquatic mammals, aquatic animal health, marine clinical veterinary medicine, pathobiology, and forensic zoology.